in the streets, covered by shrouds of drifting
snow. Some fell prey to cannibalism.
Reduced to a ration of one scant chunk of
bread per day, the Leningraders supplement
ed their diet as best they could. Glue and lin
seed oil became delicacies, the paste salvaged
from papered walls a rare treat.
Uncle Vasya died on April 13
at 2 a.m., 1942
Col. Fyodor Ovyechkin, who served in the
defense of Leningrad, recalled the deadly
shortage of materiel. "In the beginning we
lacked everything," he told me. "Fortifica
tions, food, weapons. Every land mine was a
jewel to us, every round of ammunition like
a pearl. Each rifleman received seven bullets
a day and was strictly accountable for every
one of them. I can assure you that Russian
supplies did not stop the Germans. It was
Russian heroism."
Uncle Lesha-on May 10 at 4 p.m., 1942
Driven by famine from their warrens in
empty granaries and warehouses, emaciated
rats suddenly appeared in the streets. The
grateful citizenry scooped them up and, for a
little interval, cooking pots bubbled.
Mother-on May 13 at 7:30 a.m., 1942
I met a small, gentle woman-Alexandra
Lopatina-who had served as a Red Army
nurse during the blockade. "I remember so
many who were brave," she said. "There was
a very young pilot I nursed who had purpose
ly rammed a Nazi bomber over the city; and
a geologist who had loaded himself with ex
plosives and leaped on an enemy tank."
All the Savichevs died. Everybody died.
Remained alone, Tanya.
Leningrad's purgatory ended on January
27, 1944, when the Red Army lifted the siege
and began the relentless westward advance
that would end with the Gotterddmmerung
of Nazism in the exploding streets of Berlin.
But Tanya Savicheva, orphaned and alone,
did not see it. In 1943, she too had died.
WITH INDUSTRY and imagination,
Leningrad has healed its wartime
scars. Now the only visible reminder
is the carefully maintained Piskaryov Me
morial Cemetery, where an eternal flame
flickers above half a million Leningraders
crammed into common graves. I visited Pis
karyov on a bright, frosty morning. A new
fallen snow cloaked the huge grave mounds
in white anonymity and, as I crunched along,
the adagio lamentoso of a Tchaikovsky
symphony played soft and sad through a
Awesome grandeur of St. Isaac's Cathedral
(opposite), now a museum, testifies to the
enormous wealth of the tsars. Adorned with
sculptures, paintings, mosaics, and precious
stones, the church-completed in 1858 after
40 years a-building-was erected under the
guidance of a French architect, Auguste
Montferrand. Large enough to accommodate
14,000 persons, it rests upon 24,000 wooden
piles driven into the swampy ground.
EKTACHROMESBY DICKDURRANCEII ( N.G.S.
Assembly-line matrimony: New husband
and wife descend a staircase of the state
owned Palace of Weddings as another couple
starts up. The marriage mill operates ten
hours a day, seven days a week. Principal
wedding house in Leningrad, the palace
charges $1.65 for the eight-minute ceremo
ny. Flowers, photographs, and champagne
reception are optional and cost extra.
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